“Hypocrisy in anything whatever may deceive the cleverest and most penetrating man, but the least wide-awake of children recognizes it, and is revolted by it, however ingeniously it may be disguised.”
– Leo Tolstoy
There are times when I have to remind myself that all the changes I want to see in my lifetime are not going to happen overnight. One of the primary things that rallied me to Barack Obama’s camp early on was the tone he struck, and the idea of moving past the divisive adherence to the party-line, no matter the circumstances, that have so plagued Washington politics for the past few decades.
Somehow, in all the excitement, I forgot that Obama only represents an idea, not a guarantee. Just because we elected someone who encourages a synthesis of both sides doesn’t mean everyone is going to be on board from the get-go. This is no more evident than with the next attempt at steering the flaming wreck that is our economy back onto the road, away from the abyss it seems determined to drop into.
The newest addition to the economic fix plan is, in classic Washington fashion, to throw more money at the problem. Only this time, it’ll be to throw the money at us, and public works. This trillion- (trillion!) dollar program could not be a better-designed punch in the gut to the big-government-fearing conservatives who find themselves in the minority for the first time in nearly a decade in Congress.
This price tag definitely caused my self-ascribed moderate (albeit with strong liberal leanings) eyebrows to raise. And if someone who so obviously supports our president is hesitant of this new plan, you can imagine how conservative hard-liners are taking it. This is New Deal-esque government intervention on a scale not seen since the last time we faced an economic sucker-punch this severe.
I, of course, would have no problem with Republican opposition to this plan; I’d think something was seriously wrong if the right wing didn’t say anything. But the complaints brought against are ludicrous and border on insulting. There are two primary outcries against the package that I’ve been hearing over and over, and I can’t believe that those responsible honestly expect people to take them seriously.
The first complaint is that the massive infusion of money could just prolong the hurt, that the economy is going to snap back, and that we need to just let it run its course. This, of course, is said after letting the market run its course led us right to our current situation. The time for unfettered market practice has long since passed – some would say America’s time as a capitalist nation has long since passed – but that’s a grenade whose pin I’ll pull some other time.
Really, the argument that sends me into a fit of rage every time I hear it is the complaint that the Democratic Congress and its new president are abusing their majority control. How dare they have the gall to make that claim, after eight years of power abuses perpetrated by their side? Didn’t we just experience two not-short-enough terms with an extreme Republican presence in the White House, Congress and the Supreme Court? Suddenly, once they’re out of power, one party controlling Washington is a bad thing, and it’s unfair.
This would be less shocking if the Republicans didn’t seem so unaware of how hypocritical they’re being. But every day there arise more and more complaints on conservative news sites and sound bites from Republican senators lamenting the oncoming death of the sacrosanct free market and the rise of the liberal.
None of this is productive. Acting like a 6-year-old does not accomplish anything except making a fool of oneself. It’s been a week now – the time for grieving is past – and it’s time to accept that the American people want to try it a new way.
[email protected]
Right-wing hypocrisy
Daily Emerald
January 26, 2009
More to Discover